December 27, 2025: The origins of the current East Asian military rivalries between China, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan go back centuries. During that period, the Chinese empire, the last one of dozens that had ruled China for thousands of years, was defeated and humiliated by a resurgent and militarized Japanese empire. The 1894–1895 First Sino-Japanese War confirmed that the last Chinese empire was corrupt, weak and unable to withstand the attacks by the emerging Japanese empire. Japan had gone from a backward, isolationist feudal society in 1853, to a westernized, modernized and militarized empire by the 1880s. In doing so, Japan was the first nation in East Asia to undergo the Industrial Revolution. China did not do so until the 1980s.

China had been an empire for long periods during the past four thousand years, with about as long periods of being several different states or during civil wars. Modern Japan was inspired by Europe, which began industrializing in the 1760s, followed by the United States a few decades later. By industrializing before anyone else in East Asia, Japan was able to defeat the Chinese empire in the 1894 Battle of Yalu. The Yalu River was in Korea, then a client state of the Chinese empire. By defeating Chinese forces at sea and on land in Korea, Japan was able to take Korea for itself, in addition to Taiwan. A Japanese army marched out of Korea into China to force the Chinese to cede Korea to them. At the end of the 19th century, Japan got into a war with the Russian empire over possession of Manchuria. Japan defeated the Russians on land, and at sea in the Battle of Tsushima. These two victories startled Europeans, who never expected any East Asian nation to defeat a European force. Japan then controlled Korea and China’s Manchuria. During 1914-1918 World War I, Japan sided with the allies and was able to seize German island territories. One of the reasons for Japan starting the World War II War in the Pacific was Japanese generals’ resentment at how little Japan received from joining the Allies in World War I.

Japan lost in World War II, the only war the revived Japanese Empire had ever lost. Japan lost all its overseas possessions and for nearly half a century remained a military nonentity in East Asia. The resurgence of China in the late 20th Century prompted the Japanese to rearm.

China is no longer an empire but rather a socialist dictatorship that encourages free enterprise. China is now dependent on foreign trade. They are the second largest trading country in the world, after the United States. This is another result of the Battle of Yalu, one of many things that this 1894 conflict triggered.